<<ize is rarely used in British English, but it is correct.
All major British dictionaries list -ize first, then -ise
But never -yze, like analyze, that's American spelling only.>>

Although somewhat oddly, Samuel Johnson spelt the word "analyze" so the Americans are just continuing to use the original spelling.

While "ize" doesn't tend to be used as often in everyday British usage, it does still seem to be used by all but a few book publishers.

Boii Sun Nov 25, 2007 7:53 pm GMT

It's spelled organise.
And the letter's called zed. Not zee.
Anything that's spelled/pronounced british is the correct way of spelling/pronouncing. Cos.. it's called American ENGLISH. And england is in Britain. Not USA.

Guest Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:01 pm GMT

Organize is the proper spelling.

greg Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:47 pm GMT

Pas du tout. C'est Fr <organiser> dont est tiré An <organise>.

DJ Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:32 am GMT

Organize is the proper British spelling. The OED makes clear that this -ise business that has taken off in England is nonsense.

Milton Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:23 am GMT

''organise'' looks misspelled.
It would cause strange looks in US and Canada.
Just like ''foetus'' or other things British Queen invented.

N.N. Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:28 am GMT

Milton it is the US spellings that were invented by Webster...

Ian Mon Nov 26, 2007 1:51 pm GMT

<< Which spelling do you use? >>

I used to write "organise", but after I found out that "organize" was actually the original version, I started to write such words with a Z.

Guest Mon Nov 26, 2007 3:45 pm GMT

<<Milton it is the US spellings that were invented by Webster...>>

No. At the time Webster lived, "-ise" spellings were not standard in the US or the UK.

Pavel Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:30 pm GMT

It's spelled organise.
And the letter's called zed. Not zee.
Anything that's spelled/pronounced british is the correct way of spelling/pronouncing. Cos.. it's called American ENGLISH. And england is in Britain. Not USA.

English is not my first language, but I was taught that the Americans actually tend to retain an "older" (i.e. original) English orthography as well as vocabulary. Wasn't "zee" the "original" pronunciation of this letter in English?

Travis Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:46 pm GMT

>>English is not my first language, but I was taught that the Americans actually tend to retain an "older" (i.e. original) English orthography as well as vocabulary. Wasn't "zee" the "original" pronunciation of this letter in English?<<

"Zee" and "zed" (c.f. Greek "zeta", and compare with German "Zett") reflect pronunciations in different English dialects, which just happened to be established differently in the US and the UK. There are other names that were also used for the letter "z" in various English dialects historically, but I cannot really recall them off the top of my head at the moment.